Praise for the
series
★ “Kids will like Nate the Great.”
—School Library Journal, Starred
“The illustrations capture the exaggerated, tongue-in-cheek humor of the story.”
—Booklist
“Nate, Sludge, and all their friends have been delighting beginning readers for years.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“They don’t come any cooler than Nate the Great.”
—The Huffington Post
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 1987 by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
Cover and interior illustrations copyright © 1987 by Marc Simont
Extra Fun Activities text copyright © 2005 by Emily Costello
Extra Fun Activities illustrations copyright © 2005 by Jody Wheeler
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Yearling, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York. Originally published in paperback in the United States by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, New York, in 1987. Reprinted by arrangement with the Putnam and Grosset Group.
Yearling and the jumping horse design are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.
Visit us on the Web! randomhousekids.com
Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at RHTeachersLibrarians.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-440-40168-1 (pbk.) — ISBN 978-0-385-37675-4 (ebook)
Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.
v4.1i
a
To the beach of my childhood,
Old Orchard Beach, Maine
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Nate the Great and the Boring Beach Bag
Extra Fun Activities
Learning with Nate
About the Authors
I, Nate, the great detective,
was swimming in the ocean
with my dog, Sludge.
Someone was swimming behind us.
It was Oliver.
Oliver is always behind me.
Oliver is a pest.
He swam up beside me.
“I lost my seashell,”
he said. “I want you to find it.”
“I, Nate the Great,
do not look for seashells.
If I did, I could find plenty
of them on this beach.”
“The seashell was in my beach bag,”
Oliver said. “But that is gone, too.”
“Your beach bag is gone?”
“Yes,” Oliver said. “My clothes
and shoes were in it.”
“Your clothes and shoes, too?
You need clothes.
You need shoes.
You need me.
I, Nate the Great,
will take your case.”
Sludge, Oliver, and I swam to shore.
We sat down on the sand.
I took a pencil and a piece of paper
out of my swimsuit pocket.
I wrote a note to my mother.
It was soggy and sandy.
I hoped she could read it.
I put the note in Sludge’s mouth.
“Take this home
and then come back,” I said.
“Don’t stop to eat
along the way.”
Sludge ran off with the note.
I hoped he would be back soon.
I hoped he would be back.
Oliver and I walked along the beach.
“Show me where you last saw
your beach bag,” I said.
“I left it on the beach,”
Oliver said, “while I bought
a glass of water
at Rosamond’s Restaurant.”
“Rosamond has a restaurant?”
“Yes. She is selling water,
seaweed soup, and sandwiches.
The sandwiches are filled with sand.
She said that
since they are called sandwiches,
they should be made of sand.”
“It figures,” I said.
Oliver stopped.
“When I got back
to where I left my beach bag,
it was gone. And here is where
I left it.”
“How do you know that?” I asked.
“Because I left my beach ball
beside it. And see, my beach ball
is still here. Nobody took it.”
“If someone took your beach bag,
why would they leave your beach ball?”
I asked. “Was there something special
about your beach bag?
What did it look like?”
“It was blue.
It was blank.
Oliver said.
“And it was bumpy
from all the stuff inside it.”
I, Nate the Great, looked down
at the beach ball
and the sand around it.
“The sand is not pressed down
where your beach bag was,” I said,
“even though the bag was heavy
with clothes, shoes,
and a shell inside it.”
“Is that a clue?” Oliver asked.
“It may be an important clue
or no clue at all,” I said.
“Sand gets kicked around.
Tell me, were you alone when
you left your beach bag here?”
“I was sitting all by myself,”
Oliver said. “Then I saw
Annie and her dog, Fang,
running toward me.
Whenever I see Fang
running toward me,
I run, too.
I run away.
I ran to Rosamond’s Restaurant.”
“We will have to walk to
Rosamond’s Restaurant,” I said.
“We will look for clues
and your boring beach bag
along the way.”
Oliver and I started to walk.
The sun felt hot
on my back.
The sand felt scratchy
between my toes.
I was careful not to step
on sand castles
or ice cream sticks.
I ducked beach balls in the air.
I looked for Oliver’s beach bag.
I also looked for Sludge.
He should have been back by now.
We passed a refreshment stand.
I wondered if they served pancakes.
I wanted to stop.
But I had a case to solve.
I saw Rosamond up ahead.
She was sitting behind a crate.
Sometimes people get strange
sitting under a hot sun.
But Rosamond is strange all the time.
Rosamond’s four cats were asleep
on the crate.
Oliver and I walked up to her.
“Have you seen Oliver’s
boring beach bag?” I asked.
“No,” Rosamond said. “I have been
too busy with my restaurant.
Want to buy a sandwich or soup
or a glass of water?”
“No. I must find the beach bag.
Oliver has no clothes, no shoes,
and no seashell.”
“Oh, dear,” Rosamond said.
“I will give him some free water.
And part of a sandwich.”
Rosamond handed Oliver
a glass of sandy water.
I knew it was time to leave.
Oliver and I started to walk back
to where he said he had left
his beach bag.
“I did not find your beach bag
between where you left it
and Rosamond’s Restaurant,” I said.
“I also did not find my dog.”
I, Nate the Great, was thinking.
Sludge must have stopped somewhere
to eat.
That sounded like a good idea.
“I am going to stop
at the refreshment stand,” I said.
I walked up to the refreshment stand.
Oliver followed me.
Then he stopped.
Suddenly I knew why.
Annie’s dog, Fang, was tied
to a post beside the stand.
His teeth gleamed
under the bright sun.
He looked hungry.
He looked at me.
I did not want to stay.
But Annie was there.
Perhaps she had seen Oliver’s bag.
I talked fast.
“I am looking for Oliver’s
beach bag,” I said.
“It looks boring.
Have you seen it?”
“Yes, it was beside
a beach ball,” Annie said.
“Fang and I ran by it,
just as Oliver ran off.
from one end of the beach
to the other.
I stopped for a snack.
But Fang is trying to lose weight.
He is on a diet.”
“He is eating the post
you tied him to,” I said.
“But that is not on his diet!”
Annie cried.
She rushed to Fang
and untied him.
“Is a beach bag on his diet?”
I asked.
“Not today,” Annie said.
Annie and Fang ran off.
They ran in the opposite direction
from Rosamond’s Restaurant.
Fang was not so hungry
that he would eat a sandwich
made of sand.
I, Nate the Great, was hungry.
I ate some pancakes
at the refreshment stand
and thought about the case.
There was not much to think about.
I did not have one clue
that I knew was a clue.
I also did not have a dog.
Where was Sludge?
Suddenly I saw him on the beach.
He was with Oliver.
I finished my pancakes fast.
I went up to Sludge and Oliver.
Sludge was still holding my note
in his mouth.
He looked hot and tired.
“You were supposed to take
that note home,” I said.
Perhaps Sludge did not know
where home was.
The beach looks the same
for miles and miles.
Sand and water.
All that sand
and all that water
must have mixed him up.
Sludge sat down and rested.
Oliver and I sat with him.
Then Sludge ran into the water
to cool off.
The water.
I had been looking for Oliver’s
beach bag on land.
But what if it was in the water?
I ran into the water.
I swam here.
I swam there.
I looked and looked
for Oliver’s beach bag.
All of a sudden I saw it!
It was bobbing in the water
up ahead.
A bump.
A big blue bump.
Sludge and I swam up to it.
I grabbed it.
It was not Oliver’s beach bag.
It was Esmeralda’s head.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I am looking for Oliver’s
beach bag,” I said.
“Oliver!” cried Esmeralda.
“I am hiding from him.
He follows me everywhere.
On land.
On sea.
And here he comes!”
Esmeralda swam away.
Oliver swam up.
“Did you find my beach bag?”
he asked.
“Not yet,” I said.
“I will follow you
until you solve the case,”
Oliver said.
“And even after I solve the case,”
I said.
Sludge and I swam to shore.
Oliver swam to shore.
Sludge and I stretched out
on the sand.
Oliver stretched out
on the sand behind us.
He had given me a tough case.
Nobody had given me any clues.
Or had they?
There was no dent in the sand
from Oliver’s beach bag.
What if it meant something?
What if it meant that
Oliver’s beach bag
had never been there?
But Oliver said it had.
What else did he say?
He said that Annie and Fang
were running toward him
just before he left
his beach bag and beach ball
and ran to Rosamond’s Restaurant.
I, Nate the Great, got a stick.
I smoothed out some sand.
Then I drew a map in it.
I marked where Oliver’s beach ball was.
I marked Rosamond’s Restaurant.
I marked the refreshment stand,
which was between them.
I had seen Annie and Fang
at the refreshment stand.
Annie said that they were running
from one end of the beach
to the other.
She said they had run past
Oliver’s beach bag and ball.
I looked at my map.
First there was the beach ball.
Then the refreshment stand.
Then Rosamond’s Restaurant.
When Annie and Fang left
the refreshment stand,
they should have run
toward Rosamond’s Restaurant.
But they ran in the opposite direction.
Why?
I, Nate the Great, was stumped.
I looked at Sludge.
Sludge always helps with my cases.
But all the sand and water
had mixed him up this time.
Did Annie and Fang get mixed up?
No. Annie would not
get mixed up.
I looked at Oliver.
It would be easy
for him to get mixed up.
He was always following someone.
I kicked some sand.
I ducked a beach ball.
I thought.
Hmm.
“Oliver,” I said.
“I think I know
where your beach bag is.
Follow me.”
“Of course,” Oliver said.
Sludge and I walked
to Rosamond’s Restaurant.
We walked past Rosamond’s Restaurant.
“Wait!” Oliver said.
“You are going very far away
fr
om where I left my beach bag.”
I, Nate the Great, kept on walking.
Up ahead I saw something in the sand.
I ran up to it.
It was a beach bag.
It was blue.
It was blank.
It was bumpy.
It was boring.
It was Oliver’s beach bag.
“My beach bag!” Oliver cried.
“What is it doing here?”
“It was always here,” I said.
“No one took it.
But someone took your beach ball.
Someone picked it up and threw it.
Or kicked it. Or carried it.
And I think it got thrown or kicked
again and again.
It landed a long way
from where you left it.
The sand was not pressed down
next to where you found
your beach ball
because your beach bag
had never been there.
But Annie gave me the big clue.
She and Fang are running
from one end of the beach
to the other.
I saw them run
toward the place
where you said you had left
your beach bag and ball.
But she had already seen
your ball and bag.
How could she see them
when she had not yet reached the place
where you said you had left them?
She or you had to be wrong.”
“So you picked me?” Oliver asked.
“Yes, I, Nate the Great, picked you.
After someone almost hit me
on the head
with a beach ball.
That is when I thought
that the ball, not the bag,
had moved.
You left your beach bag
and beach ball here.
You went to Rosamond’s Restaurant